Category: Majorlift News

After a gap of 3 years we again exhibited at the COMMERCIAL VEHICLE SHOW which was held as usual in April at the NEC Birmingham.

We took a ready made Shell stand covering 18 sq mts.

A full range of Majorlift products was exhibited. In addition to the products we had a TV programme running featuring company executives telling the Majorlift story. This attracted a lot of interest. To highlight our close association with Compac our stand was sited adjoining there’s, unusually without the mid stand wall. This move illustrated our close relationship with Compac. Our stand created a lot of interest in all our products but particularly the new 13 tonne pit jack specially designed for use in ATL inspection pits.

Also shown for the first time at the show was the new, Majorlift 2 Tonne Vertical Transmission jack (VTJ2000) displayed with a ZF gearbox mounted on the top. This is a development of our long running and trusted 1 Tonne unit. Further interest was shown in the Hub caliper removal tool.

At the end of the day it was concluded by all to have been a well worth while exercise.

We were honoured with a visit today by Dame Janet Trotter DBE, who is the Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire.

After initial introductions to senior management, she was given a presentation of the company, its products and its future aims by Tristram Southgate, Majorlift’s Managing Director.

This was followed by a tour of the factory where Dame Janet very much enjoyed talking to the team and seeing the machinery and finished products. She was particularly glad to meet Ryan Cox, an apprentice in his third year of training and a recent finalist in the national Apprentice of the year competition. Ryan explained how, as one of only four finalists, he had been invited to a gala dinner in London and met the Right Honourable Nick Boles, Minister for Business Information & Skills.

Dame Janet showed great interest in our products and our aims for the future, giving advice on matters such as recruiting future apprentices, probing new markets, and promised help where possible with any future projects we may have. As a keen promotor of Gloucestershire, Industry and apprenticeships, the Lord Lieutenant is ideally placed to make useful contacts for the company.

Our photo shows Dame Janet watching while Ben Gould re-assembles an air motor in our dedicated service section.

Majorlift are very pleased to announce that their apprentice, Ryan Cox has reached the last four in the national Apprentice of the Year Awards in the highly competitive Engineering and Construction category.

To find out if he is the overall winner, Ryan will be attending the Group Training Association (GTA) England Annual Conference, on 21st October 2015 at the Institution of Mechanical Engineering in Bird Cage Walk, London. Here, the winner will be announced and the award presented by Nick Boles MP, Minister of State for Skills and Equalities. Not that it would be the first time the pair have met – our pictures shows Ryan and Nick with Luke Hall, MP for Thornbury, when the pair visited Majorlift’s factory in February to talk about apprentice training in engineering.

Ryan, 20, from Wotton-under-Edge, is starting his third year of an HNC as an apprentice in mechanical engineering. He is sponsored and employed full time by Majorlift, but attends Gloucestershire Engineering Training (GET) in Barnwood, one day per week, as part of his technical training. In addition, there are regular in-work assessments carried out by his GET supervisor to make sure he is progressing and covering the course syllabus.

Tristram Southgate, Majorlift’s Managing Director, said “we are obviously very proud that Ryan’s talents has been recognised in this way, but we already knew he was an outstanding apprentice. He’s demonstrated a real ability for machining and even came back after his first year of training with a letter of thanks from GET. He has a very bright future ahead of him and, if he is selected for the award, it can only help him”.

It is also a massive endorsement of Majorlift’s apprentice programme, of which Ryan is the first student to be trained. Majorlift is privately owned by the Abel Smith family and the chairman, David Abel Smith, was himself trained as an apprentice on Teeside, before a successful career in industry and the city. David said “I know personally how useful and important apprenticeship are and I am determined that Majorlift will play its part in training the next generation of engineers to help fill a rapidly approaching skills gap”.